


don't read the last page

by witching



Series: you and me forevermore [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: (if you pretend Doomsday isn't happening soon), Angst with a Happy Ending, Banter, Confrontations, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Mentioned Jackie Tyler, Mentioned Secondary Characters, Post-Episode: s02e09 The Satan Pit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-20 15:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20677580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witching/pseuds/witching
Summary: "When they were alone again, truly alone, after the initial shock and bliss, after the adrenaline had worn off, they fell into the strange limbo between adventures that always lent itself to awkward conversations."





	don't read the last page

**Author's Note:**

> kiss prompts from tumblr: tenrose + '"i almost lost you" kiss' + 'being unable to open their eyes for a few moments afterward'.  
look forward to an overly fluffy sequel in the future.

Rose said hello in her way, with a supernova smile, a lightning bolt flash across her eyes signalling recognition and relief and some kind of revelation. She could hardly keep track of all the things she wanted to say, her mind going upside-down at the sight of the Doctor at the TARDIS console. A normal sight by now, a natural sight, but it was one she had been afraid she would never see again.

She was no timid thing, acting nervous and shy in front of the boy she liked; it was a much more profound type of speechlessness. Every word she could have said got caught in her chest when she saw him, when she watched his face come alive the same way hers had done, and just as she smiled by way of greeting, she packed all of that feeling into her powerful little body and spoke with it.

Flinging herself into his arms said _ I missed you, I'm so happy you're here, I'm so happy we're both here. _ Flailing her legs when he lifted her off the ground said _ I knew you would come back for me, I believed in you. _ Her arms wrapped around his neck like a boa constrictor said _ I don’t want to let you go, not even for a second, not ever. _

The Doctor had reassured her about whatever the thing in the pit was, and then they had moved on from the black hole and said goodbye to all that was left of the crew, of the expedition. All that was left of the planet, really: Zach and Ida and Danny, these humans and their memories. They could only hope the memories would be enough to warn others away from trying something similar in the future, but such was the nature of the human race. They’d just go blundering in. 

When they were alone again, truly alone, after the initial shock and bliss, after the adrenaline had worn off, they fell into the strange limbo between adventures that always lent itself to awkward conversations. The Doctor disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a cup of jasmine green tea with milk, no sugar, just the way Rose liked it. He knew it was just the way she liked it, and he had perfected the art of making this particular cup of tea for her, but he still set it down tentatively in front of her, as if she might reject it.

Rose offered her thanks and took an indulgent sip, possibly playing up her enjoyment of it for the Doctor’s benefit. He chose not to call her on it, took a seat next to her, let his body slump into the chair in a rare display of complete exhaustion.

“You alright?” Rose murmured the words, turning cautiously to see his face, to study him with a measured look of thinly veiled concern.

The corners of the Doctor’s lips quirked up in a sad little smile. “Course I’m alright,” he said, his voice soft but solid, gentle but sure. “Why, is something the matter?”

"Is something the matter?" Rose asked, incredulous. She snorted and turned her head away, giving a short, bitter laugh. 

The Doctor winced, guilty and embarrassed, just barely holding back from reaching out to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, that was stupid. I meant – can I help at all?"

Another quiet bark of a laugh, and then Rose turned to face him again, her wide brown eyes boring into his. She couldn’t possibly articulate everything she wanted him to know just then; the words simply didn’t exist. “Just don’t leave me like that again, yeah?”

The Doctor looked confused, so Rose continued: “I said being stuck with you isn’t so bad, and I meant it. I thought I’d lost everything, and you were all I had left, and I knew we’d be alright, long as we were together.” She raised her eyebrows pointedly, taking a long pause for dramatic effect. “But then you had to go and jump into a pit, didn’t you, and for what? Because you’d rather _ die _ and leave me stranded without you than even consider the idea of living in a house with me?”

“No, Rose, don’t say that,” he pleaded with her, hurt written across his face alongside his confusion and guilt. “Of course that’s not true.”

“Isn’t it, though?” Rose snapped, her voice wavering, her chest tight. “You didn’t seem too keen on the idea.”

“Well, I wasn’t,” the Doctor replied matter-of-factly, without pausing to think. “When I thought I’d lost my TARDIS, my life, you were all I had left, too. And if we settled down on some planet somewhere, got a mortgage or whatever else humans do, it would be fine, but I’d lose you soon enough, and then where would I be?” 

Rose stilled and frowned, scrutinizing him with soft eyes. “You said that before, when I asked you about Sarah Jane,” she said pensively. “But – I mean, if you were going to be alone anyway, in the end, why couldn’t we be happy for a while first?”

Placing a careful hand delicately on Rose’s knee, a barely-there touch accompanied by an uncertain gaze and a hesitation to speak, the Doctor thought hard about the question. “We could,” he said eventually. “We would have. We _ are, _ aren’t we? Happy, like this?”

“Yeah, well. You still left on a suicide mission, didn’t you.”

The Doctor started to protest, “I didn’t _ mean _to –,” before he cut himself off, took a deep breath. “I always intend to come back. Please believe that. You can be angry with me, yell, ignore me, I don’t care, but please believe that I would never choose to leave you behind.”

A beat of silence, of Rose trying to hold onto her anger and not forgive him immediately, and then her face fell. Tears sprung to her eyes, but she held them back, not allowing them to fall. “They said you were dead,” she murmured finally, her voice thick and ragged. “I didn’t believe it, but – but I should’ve. I would’ve, if I didn’t know you. And you let that happen, jumping into a pit like that, as if I wasn’t waiting for you, as if I wasn’t _ counting _on you.”

“I didn’t think there was any way back up,” the Doctor replied, trying his level best not to sound defensive. “I mean – I wouldn’t – I didn’t just _ jump, _ alright? I went _ looking _down there, to find something or to figure something out, to find a way back.”

Biting the inside of her cheek, glancing off to the side, Rose didn’t take long to come to a conclusion. “Okay,” she conceded, pressing her lips together and nodding slowly. “Alright. Just promise me you won’t go off doing something like that again.”

“Promise,” he agreed, nodding his head solemnly.

Rose stared at him with an indecipherable look on her face, as if she were trying to count each freckle on his skin or constructing a sonnet about his eyes inside her head. The Doctor kept quiet and let her do whatever she was doing. Silence stretched on for several long minutes as he marked the miniscule changes in her expression, the twitch of her lips and the length of her blinks, until she finally huffed out a long breath.

Then she – well, the Doctor wasn’t quite sure what she did, whether she lunged for him or fell into him or gravitated toward him, but whatever it was, it resulted in Rose grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket and kissing him with nearly enough force to knock him out of his chair. He welcomed it happily, his hands reaching out of their own accord to touch her wherever they could reach, then sliding with ease to her waist, as if they belonged there. 

Though the Doctor remained seated, Rose had risen from her chair and was now leaning over him awkwardly, her hands braced on his shoulders as she snogged the life out of him. He gasped when she licked into his mouth, a small, soft sound swallowed by the movement of their tongues. She tasted of cherry lip balm and the tea he had made her, and he wondered at that for a moment, that she should retain the shadow of something he gave her, that he could taste his gift from her mouth.

When Rose pulled away from him, she kept her eyes shut and stayed close enough that he could feel her breath coming in quick, short puffs, ghosting across his lips. She ran her hands up the sides of his neck in one smooth motion to press her palms against his cheeks.

After a reverent moment wherein the Doctor simply stared at her, his mouth hanging open, he collected himself enough to ask, "What was that for?"

Rose exhaled softly, her eyes fluttering open. "I almost lost you," she said, her voice too faint to even be called a whisper. "And I don't really think you're gonna stop putting yourself in danger, so I wanted to get that out of the way before the next time."

The Doctor paused, just for a second, before replying. "Rose, you know I… I mean." He cleared his throat, averting his eyes. "You know how much you mean to me, don't you?"

"Think I've got some idea, yeah," Rose answered, her hoarse voice giving away the faux-casual tone she put on. "Would be nice if you actually told me, though."

Weighing his options, choosing his path carefully, the Doctor took a deep breath. "Rose Tyler," he said at length. "You're the most important person in the world to me. You're clever and kind and warm and honest and you saved me when I thought I was past the point of saving. You made the whole universe make sense again. And I love you, I do, with everything in me."

Rose sniffed, then smiled. "Took you long enough to say it."

"Yes, well," the Doctor replied, the levity returning to his voice. "You never asked before."

"I love you, too," Rose said, in lieu of a snappy retort. "You gave me all of time and space, all these things that most people never even know about, all these adventures. But none of that would mean anything if it wasn't with you."

The Doctor looked deep in thought for a long moment before speaking again. "D'you want to go home for a bit? See your mum?"

"Why are you thinking about my mum right now?" Rose rolled her eyes, licked her lips absently as she considered it. 

"Just – just because. Don't worry about it." As he spoke, the Doctor stood to fiddle with the TARDIS controls, stubbornly not meeting her eyes. 

Rose furrowed her brow, watching his trademark manic energy inhabit his body once again. "Sure," she said lightly. "Is there something I should know about you and my mum?"

"Don't _ insult _ me," the Doctor pleaded, an overly dramatic expression of hurt on his face. "No, I was just thinking – thinking about how close you came to losing her, too. And she could've lost you, and she’d never even know what happened. So, I felt… thought you might want to see her, after all that.”

There was a beat wherein Rose bit her lip to stifle a noise that had the potential to become either a laugh or a sob, and then she stepped toward him, wrapped her arms around his waist. It was easy, natural, an anticlimactic event, and likewise when he folded her in his arms and held her close. She sighed, a breath more felt than heard, melting into him with palpable relief, burying her head in his chest and squeezing him tight.

After a short period of comfortable silence, warm and familiar, Rose pulled back, kept her arms looped around him and loosened her grip just enough to look up at his face. “You’ll come too, yeah?”

“Course I will, I’m your ride,” the Doctor replied with a grin.

Rose rolled her eyes. “No, I mean – stay with me? For a few days, that’s all, and then we can go again.” Her voice was small and she stared intently at the floor as she continued, “I mean, it’s fine if you don’t want – I know it's not your thing – it's just. I want to see my mum, but I don’t want to leave you.”

His expression softening, the glint of mirth in his eyes replaced with a deep, earnest look, the Doctor answered without hesitation. “I’d love to. Yes. It’ll be like a little holiday – like Christmas!”

“Yeah,” Rose agreed, beaming up at him once again. “Only with less nut loaf."

"And I was _ so _ looking forward to the nut loaf," the Doctor teased.

Rose snorted and nudged him in the ribs. "Shut up," she mumbled, using his tie to pull him down into another kiss. 

He responded with enthusiasm, one hand pressed flat into the small of her back to pull her flush against his body, the other moving to cup her cheek. It was messy and uncoordinated, a clash of lips and tongues moving too fast in a heated effort to be closer, to be entangled, to be together.

In the very back of his mind, the Doctor found room to be thankful that the TARDIS knew where they were headed, that he didn't need to navigate, because he couldn't have pulled himself away from her for anything.


End file.
